


It's Over, Isn't It?

by AnotherLoser



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 11:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7932943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherLoser/pseuds/AnotherLoser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry’s face lights up when he sees Mick.  He knows very well though that while he and the kid started getting along before this mission began, what Barry is truly happy about is that Mick’s return equals Leonard’s as well and he’s been missing his boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Over, Isn't It?

**Author's Note:**

> You can guess what I've been listening to while writing this.

Barry’s face lights up when he sees Mick. He knows very well though that while he and the kid started getting along before this mission began, what Barry is truly happy about is that Mick’s return equals Leonard’s as well and he’s been missing his boyfriend.

When they got together it was strange. As far as Mick knew, Len never dated. Ever. He might not have even been opposed to it, it just never happened. He’d sleep around some, get his rocks off with some chick or guy he met at a bar, but that was just fine and dandy as far as Mick’s concerned.  
It wasn’t his thing, really; hookups. No particular reason why, he just wasn’t interested in getting in a stranger’s pants. Might think about it distantly, but even when the opportunity presented itself he just wasn’t interested in the real thing. No harm done though. The only person he had his eye on anymore was Len.

It started when they were both in their twenties. Friendship turned into something more, something less platonic. But only for Mick.  
By the time that he came to terms with the fact that he had honest to god true feelings for Len, he had also realized that Len still saw him like a brother. It’s been that way ever since. Even still, he isn’t hurt by Len’s sexual prowess. The guy wants to get off with a pretty thing, male or female, that’s his business and no strings were ever attached. Mick could deal with that.

By the time Barry Allen came into the picture, Mick was tired of it. It wasn’t Len’s fault he couldn’t return Mick’s feelings, and he was very aware of that without it ever being acknowledged, so he couldn’t say he was mad at _him_ , he was just mad at the situation. Mad that over the past thirty years, Len would rather have any stranger with a pretty face than Mick. Mad might not be the right word. Disappointed sounds more like it.  
That still doesn’t change anything though, so he sticks to what he does best; he saves Len’s ass and works at the guy’s beck and call. If he can’t be a lover then he’ll be a damn good partner and the best friend he can be. Len needs a friend. Never had any, and neither did Mick. They just had each other, and Len had Lisa, and eventually Mick had her as a little sister too. They were an odd family, somewhat dysfunctional, all with their respective baggage, but they were family. That was good enough. Len’s friendship would always be good enough.

In a way, he needed Len around. He made it easier to control his impulses. Sure, he looked like nothing more than the muscle, doing whatever his boss says, but it helped him. It’s not like Len could honestly stop Mick if he _wanted_ to go ruin things, but that was never his intent. So, he listens. Len likes control and he’d probably boss Mick around without pyromania and violent impulses to worry about, so at least this way it benefits them both. He doesn’t mind.

Usually.

He didn’t want to go on the ship. Didn’t want to travel through time, despite the argument Len made for it. _He_ just wanted to go, and maybe stealing was a part of it but not the whole story. He was practically a kleptomaniac, he loved being a crook, but he was far too willing to be a part of this new team. There was something else there, and Mick blames Barry Allen. The kid saw so much good in Len, and yeah, Mick saw it too but in different ways. Barry was too much of a typical hero, preaching about how Len could do and be so much more, as if he wasn’t already the best kind of man there was.  
In truth, the kid loved him too much to think that, and Mick knows it. He doesn’t understand why he couldn’t just accept that Len was a thief though. Good intentions or not, Mick wanted to hate him. In the end he couldn’t, because he made Len happy- so happy, so content. He might have been exactly what Len needed. His influence might have also been what got Len killed.

For all of their time together, Mick hadn’t honestly expected Len to take that bullet for him. That was his job. He protected Len, always had and always would.  
But every now and then, for his own good, Len would do something.

Oculus takes the cake.

All bitterness he held for Barry turned, briefly, into honest hatred. Losing Len’s heart to him, that hurt enough. The guy who never wanted a relationship, had trust issues out the wazoo, he fell for an innocent kid so pure at heart it was almost shameful. And then that kind heart influenced him and he tried to be more of a hero, as if he wasn’t one already.

Everyone makes choices though, and that was Len’s. Mick had to come to terms with that. He was still working on it, but at least he got to come home to 2016. And then Barry showed up.

Mick has to give him the news. Has to take care of him now because if Len didn’t leave his side when the kid was upset then Mick wasn’t going to leave him be now that there was no Len to speak of anymore. Someone has to, and Mick doesn’t know who else is in his life that can get to him. For all he knows Barry might let himself starve locked in a bedroom with everyone thinking he was taking a sick day or whatever the speedster’s equivalent was. Len would be heart broken, so Mick won’t let it happen.

He takes Barry to the last place Len stayed in this time period, sits him down on the couch and when the truth comes out he lets him cry on his shoulder.  
In the morning he finds himself and Barry slumped over on the couch, their shoulders pressed together. Barry is light enough that Mick could probably carry him to bed, but sunlight is already creeping in through the windows. He lays him down on the couch though, leaves a pillow under his head. Then he starts on breakfast. Mick doesn't have much of an appetite anymore. Barry probably wont either, but super metabolism is no joke.

"Are you making waffles...?" Comes a groggy voice behind him as he pours more batter onto the maker, officially halfway through making said waffles.  
"Yup."  
"I uh.. Thank you. For last night..Telling me. I didn't mean to crash..." He's hesitant. The wound is still fresh- even more so than for Mick. This kid is soft. He's also lost people already. Mick didn't know much about him, his past, that wasn't his business. He can see it though. There's a difference in reaction the night before, in his posture this morning. He's done this before, but it hasn't made him hard yet. Mick sort of hopes that it never does. Maybe that's something Len saw in him; no matter what he's had to go through, that kid still tries his damn hardest to find the silver linings. That part is something Mick has seen. Brief and accidental, but he's overheard things in passing, picked up pieces here and there and can make enough judgement on Barry's character to spot stuff like that. It probably helped that for a while he was basically analyzing him for- for who knows what. Flaws Len might be missing? Things he does that Mick can't? If the latter, it was basically everything. Barry was probably his complete opposite. Go figure that's who Len falls for...

He's trying not to be bitter. Bitter about the lost love, about how he never got to tell Len how he felt, how he lost to Barry, lost to someone who is everything that he _isn't_ , how Len was gone and none of it could ever change in his wildest dreams now, how he's lost his anchor and his best friend and his love all in one go, how he couldn't even say all of those years were wasted because he still _had_ Len at least.

Mick slides the plate of finished waffles over to Barry- not before dropping a few pads of butter on top. "Sit. Eat."  
"Oh uh...I'm not really up for food right now."  
"Neither am I. Still gotta eat. You need how many thousand calories? Start skippin' meals and you'll turn to skin and bones."  
A pause. "I guess.."

Barry sits at the small table with a stack of waffles and a bowl of cut berries if he chooses to add those. A minute or two later, spent in complete silence, and then he speaks up. "Why are you doing this? Taking care of me, I mean."  
Mick huffs. "Cause he loved you, and he was my best friend. He'd be heartbroken to see you fall apart, so you're not gonna. I'm not gonna let you."

"...You loved him too, didn't you?" Mick freezes in place. "I was sort of suspicious of it for a while.. Actually I thought you two were a couple when I first fought you." Of course he did.. The Rogues started calling them mom and dad as a joke for all of their bickering.  
His waffle is going to burn if he leaves it there. Mick grunts in acknowledgement and turns to the waffle maker.

"For the better part of thirty years, yeah." He finally murmurs. "He never looked my way, don't worry. He chose you."  
"So you're just going to look out for me?" Barry's voice is weak, as if he's about to start crying over his breakfast. A glance over his shoulder tells Mick that it's a likely possibility.  
Mick can only shrug. He isn't good with feelings. He still has to tell Lisa what happened. If he can't protect Len anymore though, he'll at least look after who meant the most to him.


End file.
